Hypothetical chest day on a 6-way split, standard modern BB ramping, minimizing fatigue from warm-ups -version:
Low-Incline Bench
-1358-10
-2255-6
-3153-4
-405as many as possible, could be in the 6-12 range, or even 1-12, how open the range is depends largely on how much you increase your weight once you’ve reached the upper end of your target rep range (say, you did 315*12 last workout on your last set and feel like you can increase the weight now… Okay, some would go up to 405 and do a double or whatever and work their way up to 12 reps or what have you… Some prefer smaller jumps like 5-10 lbs… Totally your call! But if you use small jumps, you don’t need a 2-12 range, you can go 6-12 or whatever, got it?)
Flat DB Bench (already warm, so we’ll cut the warm-up a little)
-80’s6-8
-120’s3-4
-155’s*as many as possible, 5-12 or whatever.
Pec Deck, just for the pump, never mind progression
-maybe 1-2 straight sets with light weight for the pump…
(now maybe you’d do some DC stretching if you like that, I would, but to each his own)
Okay, progression mostly happens on your last set of each exercise. You adjust warm-ups every now and again, but you don’t go around with a calculator to make sure you’re always doing 25 percent, 50, 75, 100 of working weight on your first exercise for that muscle-group or movement pattern or 50 and then 75 for your following exercises for that muscle-group/movement pattern… Don’t sweat the details like that.
Alternatively you can do, say, 8 reps on every warm-up set, or do it the way I wrote about above, but add a few singles or doubles as additional warm-up sets if you feel that the weight jumps there are too large.
If you do it as shown below (only small weight jumps coupled with high rep warm-ups), you are totally defeating the point of BB ramping as you will be exhausted and won’t be able to go all-out on your heaviest set…
Flat bench:
-22510
-24510
-26510
-2857 (or whatever)
If you want to do straight sets/high volume, then do it. Don’t turn this into a clusterfuck.
Note: Wendler 5/3/1 is based on ramping, but there are two templates for loading parameters. The one with the bigger jumps is what I prefer, it’s somewhat closer to BB style training (and Jim himself mentioned that he preferred that one in his blog), the other one is horrible with it’s narrow jumps, especially for deadlifts.
EVERYONE, there was a thread about this sometime recently so go look at THAT one so we don’t have another fresh discussion every month on the same topic.
1,000 common sense points rewarded to whoever can find that thread and link it!
So, you’re saying just cut out the next 2 sets and up the weight on my one working set? Because I already often go to very near failure and sometimes failure on the first working set, but it’s not like I can’t do any more after that. So I rest 2 minutes, then do it again, then rest, and then once more.
Then, I switch exercises.
You wrote you do 200lbs for 3 sets of 8. All till very near failure. That means your not using a heavy enough weight. The whole point is using the heaviest possible weight for your working set.
So when you do your working set on pulldowns and you get 10 and can’t get any more, if you rest for 3 minutes, you couldn’t go back to the same weight and get 8 or 9?[/quote]
Usually on my final set I go all out. I’d have to rest 10 minutes to try and get the same amount of reps again. So I usually leave it at that, or ill drop the weight and rep out sometimes.
However, sometimes if I don’t ‘hit the groove’ on my all out set and fall short, i’ll use the same weight again 3-5+ minutes later. But I chalk that down to my lack of experience and technique. So doing the same weight again, or occassional straight sets might help with that.
Come to think of it, thats probably why my bench hasn’t been progressing as well as my squat/deadlift/m.press, my technique on it is pretty shitty.
[quote]braizer-holland wrote:
it’s simple , for example
First you warm up then:
pulldowns
10x55 kg
8x60 kg
6x65 kg
3x70 kg
This is just an example![/quote]
Why do you want to exhaust yourself on the lighter sets like that?
You could probably do 5-6 reps easy(and progress in reps much faster) with 70 Kg if your previous sets weren’t set up that way.
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Just try it out and things will fall into place.
When C_C introduced me to it, I didn’t feel like I was doing it right since I was so used to straight sets. But, after a while you get the hang of it[/quote]
It’s probably the easiest thing you can do.
Just makes sense to me.
Artem, just be glad you found this out at 16. I’d kill to be able to get this info when I was that young.
So wait your telling me that if I do 4 sets on the incline that im supposed to add more weight each set working my way up until i give it everything i’ve got on my last set?
Golly Gee that really doesn’t make sense to me, could someone provide me with a few diagrams maybe a 2 hour youtube video explaining the concept?
This sounds way to hard im going back to Total body training.
i do a couple warm up sets before i get to my top weight/set and that is the only set that counts toward my progress…after that set i might use the same weight again or i may decrease the weight for a back off set (usually end up doing this) and so far i must say that is has been working very well! im making my best gains ever right now(probably because this is the first time im injury free, lifting consistly, and eating big)
C_C, your explanation was very good, thank you. I just lifted and I’ll copy the workout here once just to see if I’m ramping properly.
back/shoulders:
Did some Y-raises and external rotations on an incline bench with 5lb dumbbells and then stretched my chest.
-wide grip pulldown:
70 x 12; 120 x 10; 160 x 8; 180 x 5; 200 x 9
T-handle pulldown:
140 x 8; 160 x 6; 180 x 5; 200 x 8
Hammer Strength high row:
90/side x 12; 100 x 8; 115 x 6; 125 x 5; 135 x 5; 145 x 8
barbell behind neck presses:
45 x 20; 65 x 11; 85 x 8; 95 x 6; 105 x 5; 115 x 8
machine lateral raises:
70 x 12; 90 x 12; 110 x 8; 120 x 8; 125 x 8; 130 x 12
dumbbell lateral raises:
15 x 10; 17.5 x 10; 20 x 10; 22.5 x 10; 25 x 10; 30 x 10
dumbbell front raise:
22.5 x 10; 25 x 10; 30 x 10; 35 x 8; 40 x 12
dumbbell bent over rear raises:
5 x 12; 7.5 x 12; 10 x 12; 12.5 x 12; 15 x 8; 17.5 x 8; 20 x 8; 22.5 x 10
How’s that look, guys? Are all of those warm up sets necessary or is this how it’s done? Do they aid growth or is it strictly to prevent injury? Because I honestly know that if I went straight into the last set of 30lb dumbbell side raises with no warm up, I would not have gotten injured.
[quote]Artem wrote:
C_C, your explanation was very good, thank you. I just lifted and I’ll copy the workout here once just to see if I’m ramping properly.
back/shoulders:
Did some Y-raises and external rotations on an incline bench with 5lb dumbbells and then stretched my chest.
-wide grip pulldown:
70 x 12; 120 x 10; 160 x 8; 180 x 5; 200 x 9
T-handle pulldown:
140 x 8; 160 x 6; 180 x 5; 200 x 8
Hammer Strength high row:
90/side x 12; 100 x 8; 115 x 6; 125 x 5; 135 x 5; 145 x 8
barbell behind neck presses:
45 x 20; 65 x 11; 85 x 8; 95 x 6; 105 x 5; 115 x 8
machine lateral raises:
70 x 12; 90 x 12; 110 x 8; 120 x 8; 125 x 8; 130 x 12
dumbbell lateral raises:
15 x 10; 17.5 x 10; 20 x 10; 22.5 x 10; 25 x 10; 30 x 10
dumbbell front raise:
22.5 x 10; 25 x 10; 30 x 10; 35 x 8; 40 x 12
dumbbell bent over rear raises:
5 x 12; 7.5 x 12; 10 x 12; 12.5 x 12; 15 x 8; 17.5 x 8; 20 x 8; 22.5 x 10
How’s that look, guys? Are all of those warm up sets necessary or is this how it’s done? Do they aid growth or is it strictly to prevent injury? Because I honestly know that if I went straight into the last set of 30lb dumbbell side raises with no warm up, I would not have gotten injured.[/quote]
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
damn, 8 exercises in one session?[/quote]
Yeah… I was drinking a Myoplex shake between exercises, though. I’m thinking I need to cut that out though to make my diet a true 0 carb, according to what I’ve been reading by Evan Centopani. I just don’t have any other protein and I get that one for free.